The State of RPGs @ Explicit Gamer

May 27th, 2010, 04:16

A site called Explicit Gamer has an editorial titled The State of RPGs. I found it a bit scattershot but here's a sample:

The future is uncertain for these story driven games, but one thing is certain, they can not stay the same. In a world where new innovations are constantly being made, RPGs can't afford to sit idle and expect to cash in on old material. Luckily, western RPGs are already changing in order to meet the demand of their audience. It appears that Japanese RPGs on the other hand, have made very few strides to revitalize their genre. You could even say that nostalgia is killing the genre.

The future is uncertain for these old ground-beef sandwiches, but one thing is certain, they can not stay the same. In a world where new types of foods are constantly being made, hamburgers can't afford to sit idle and cash in on old tastes. Luckily, in many parts of the country, fast-food joints of other kinds are already changing to meet the demand of their customers, from Subway's veggie sandwiches to KFC's "Double Down." It appears that Wendy's and McDonald's and Burger King, on the other hand, have made very few strides to revitalize their burger menu. You could even say that nostalgia is killing the burger.

Originally Posted by RampantCoyote
You know what else needs to evolve?

Hamburgers.

The future is uncertain for these old ground-beef sandwiches, but one thing is certain, they can not stay the same. In a world where new types of foods are constantly being made, hamburgers can't afford to sit idle and cash in on old tastes. Luckily, in many parts of the country, fast-food joints of other kinds are already changing to meet the demand of their customers, from Subway's veggie sandwiches to KFC's Triple Threat. It appears that Wendys and McDonalds and Burger King, on the other hand, have made very few strides to revitalize their burger menu. You could even say that nostalgia is killing the burger.

Hillarious!

— If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?

Why should they evolve when more money can be made by 'not' evolving. Pre-release hype, previews, interviews, media shows, developer diaries, dedicated bloggers, its all part of the gamer anticipation build-up plan - we are being used to their advantage! - how can we possibly get out of the situation?

Originally Posted by Wulf
Why should they evolve when more money can be made by 'not' evolving. Pre-release hype, previews, interviews, media shows, developer diaries, dedicated bloggers, its all part of the gamer anticipation build-up plan - we are being used to their advantage! - how can we possibly get out of the situation?

We can't

But the indie market is evolving, and it's targeting old-schoolers, and that's what we have to make do with - as well as the middle-market games, like Risen.

We're not going to see true (gameplay) evolution from the AAA developers any time soon, nor would it be reasonable to expect. They can't take that kind of chance with that kind of money.

But, evolution WILL come, even with AAA stuff, it will just be slooooow - because even non-enthusiasts will tire of the same visual fluff with no substance, eventually.

Another hope is the modding community. AAA developers could, potentially, open their games for heavy modding - much like they did with Oblivion. But the games need to be flexible enough to support deep or "enthusiast" features. The modding community isn't going to be able to change the entire stucture of a game, so it needs to be very open - and I doubt many AAA people will take that kind of thing seriously enough, because it requires careful planning and significant resources that could go towards something pretty or cinematic instead.

People say that the RPG is just a niiche in the overall amount of games.

So - how can you please fans of a niche ?

Could it perhaps be that they might be perhaps more conservative than fans of other gaming genres ?

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)